Bones and Stones

Brugh na Bóinne and the Irish Triple Goddess

01MAR1999

_{Fig. 1}

I went out to the hazel wood,

Because a fire was in my head,

And cut and peeled a hazel wand,

And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,

And moth-like stars were flickering out,

I dropped the berry in a stream

And caught a little silver trout. ¹

Introduction

Brugh na Bóinne or Newgrange is part of a megalithic cemetery nestled in a bend of the river Boyne in county Meath, Ireland. It is one of the finest examples of a megalithic passage-grave, for within and without the tumulus there is a profusion of art that is unequaled in other tombs. More important though, and consequently the reason for its fame, is its orientation towards the rising sun on the Winter Solstice. It is unique in the sense that it was constructed with a lintel box, which allows the sunlight to pierce the passage and illuminate the central chamber of the tomb; signifying this orientation was intentional and not coincidence. After a discussion of megalithic monuments in Europe and the Irish passage-graves, focusing primarily on the Boyne valley culture, we will look at the art and astronomy of these sights. We will then examine the mythic elements associated with these monuments. And finally there is an attempt to show through the connection of the major figures in these stories, the overlay of myths in relation to the shift from a matrifocal to patrilineal social organization. In this intercession we will look at the possibility that these myths can, with the help of other cultures myths, give us a clearer view into this axial moment.²

Megalithic Europe and the Irish Passage-graves

Ronald Hutton in his book The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles says this of the megalithic tombs in Europe, "Centuries before the first platform was raised in Mesopotamia, and one and a half millennia before the first pharaoh reigned in Egypt, imposing structures lined the western seaboard of Europe from Spain to Sweden. They were tombs built of undressed stones ('megaliths') or of timbers covered with tons of piled earth and stones." ³ There are many different types of megalithic monuments, the passage-grave being the most widely dispersed along the 'Atlantic façade' from Scotland to the Iberian peninsula.⁴ Until recently it was thought that the inspiration for these monuments came out of the Mediterranean and diffused east and north along the coastlines of Europe. With the advent of better dating techniques this has become a less tenable assertion, considering some of the tombs are now thought to date from the mid to late 5thmillennia BCE . ⁵ There are four types of megalithic structure: menhirs which are single (or multiple) standing stones, dolmens which are megalithic chambers either buried beneath cairns or with a cap-stone, court tombs which have inner chambers that are marked off either with a cairn, menhirs, or orthostats, and chambered passage-graves.⁶

_{Fig. 2}

These monuments were not merely houses of the dead, as most early commentators suggested, but they functioned as ceremonial centers for the communities that constructed them, or as Hutton rightly points out, "they were shrines as well as mausoleums." He goes on to suggest that their probable origination was in Brittany, spreading out from there, and that they were associated with the development of cereal cultivation in the late Neolithic.⁷ Michael J. O' Kelly who excavated Newgrange, puts the beginning of agriculture in Ireland and the clearing of the Boyne valley in the 5th millennium BCE, which corresponds with the suggested time frame for the construction of the Boyne cemetery in the mid to late 4 th millennium BCE. ⁸


_{Fig. 3}	_{Fig. 4}

The Boyne Valley Culture

The Boyne valley is home to three major passage-grave cemeteries, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth (fig. 3) and their satellite tumuli, some of which predate the larger tombs, while others antedate them. It is thought that in order to construct these structures their culture was one of social stability and peaceful communalism.⁹ In addition to these sites there are three other major cemeteries along the central axis of Ireland, Carrowmore near the west coast, Carrowkell slightly south of that, and Loughcrew which lies to the west of the Boyne valley (fig. 4). Two smaller sites include Fourknocks and Tara to the south of the Boyne sites. These cemeteries all represent multi-period use spanning over one and a half millennia from the mid 5th millennium BCE at Carrowkell to the end of the 4th millennium for the Hill of Hostages at Tara. ¹⁰

_{Fig. 5}

A native form of pottery is often found in the tombs, named after the Carrowkeel cemetery, it "is a coarsely made round-bottomed fabric of poor quality with much incised and jabbed ornament."¹¹ Among other artifacts found at these sites are pins and needles, usually made from red deer antler. They are classified into three types: mushroom-headed pins, poppy-headed pins, and skewer-pins, the largest of which is over 16" long (fig. 5). It is suggested these were either possessions of the deceased, some of which have been warped by the cremation process, or that they were fasteners for leather bags containing the cremated remains. ¹²


_{Fig. 6}	_{Fig. 7}

A unique aspect of the sites at Newgrange, Knowth, and Loughcrew are stone basins found in the recesses, whose purpose has remained a controversy (fig. 6 & 7). The commonly accepted explanation is that they are receptacles for the cremated remains. The basins at Newgrange are exceedingly smooth, similar in texture to polished stones used in lapidary.¹³ Martin Brennan in The Boyne Valley Vision connects the burial customs of Newgrange and Knowth with the Scythians vapor bath. He suggests that the basins were filled with water and heated with the other major artifact from the sites, stone marbles, and that this was a form of shamanistic purification of the remains.¹⁴

George Eogan who is excavating the tumulus at Knowth suggests that portions of the tombs at Newgrange and Knowth are actually from a previous megalithic site which was dismantled and used in the construction of the present sites.¹⁵ His basis for this assertion relies on the discovery of several stones at both sites which have obscured or hidden imagery.¹⁶ He shows that some of these stones were actually misplaced with their imagery being inverted.¹⁷ He further believes that the original sight was at Knowth, due to the larger number of decorated stones. O'Kelly did discover in his excavation a pre-cairn sod mound at Newgrange which would tend to support this thesis.¹⁸ There is a precedent in regard to this from Brittany where three pieces of a fractured stele were recycled, they were discovered in two separate locations, neither of which are considered to be its original site.¹⁹

When I had lain it on the floor

I went to blow the fire aflame,

But something rustled on the floor,

And some one called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called my by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air.²⁰

_{Fig. 8}

Art motifs and Archaeoastronomy

In addition to the pins and needles, pendants, marbles, and basins one of the major clues as to the purpose of these monuments is their art. Opinions vary as to the function or form of this art; it still remains among the finest examples of late Neolithic art found on any monument, megalithic or otherwise. As excavations are now bringing to light tombs with even greater profusion of art than has previously been found at either Newgrange or Knowth, the jury will have to remain out on these questions of content and context.²¹

It was believed originally that one of the primary motifs, the spiral(s) (fig. 8, no. 2) in the art of Irish passage-graves was not Gaulish, but derived from Malta, Mycenaean Greece, or Egypt. Although this has for obvious reasons begun to be questioned and the inspiration again is being relocated to Brittany rather than the Medditerranean.²² One of the more intriguing arguments of east vs. west is in an inscription which was thought originally to be Phoenician numerals, which may in fact be Ogham, a form of alphabet utilized by Irish Druids in historical times.²³

The interpretation of this art, if it can even be called that in context to its purpose, is a point of major controversy. In some instances, particularly at Newgrange the art is considered the finest produced in prehistoric Europe; it is evident the artisan had not only the images planned out also that the stones characteristics where taken into consideration as well."The devices on the stones are geometrical in concept and non-representational and while it is probable that they are symbolic, religious or magical in content, it is unlikely that we will ever discover what any of them meant since we cannot know the minds or emotions of a people who did not write and who are separated in time from us by more that four thousand years." ²⁴

_{Fig. 9}

The misconception that the art is non-representational has led to the distinction that there is no connection among the motifs and that these images are abstract.²⁵ While others have stated that there is an absence or only "slight and discreet" anthropomorphism (fig. 9 & 10) apparent in the art at these sites.²⁶ Jean McMann has suggested that the art at the earlier Loughcrew cemetery was an example of "spontaneous art" derived from ecstatic experiences, whereas the art at the Boyne sites was an adaptation of these techniques and consequently more refined and intentional. She also suggests that the stone balls found at many of the sites were entoptic art, symbolizing the permeability of boundaries between the organic and the inorganic.²⁷

_{Fig. 10}

One of the major criticisms which was directed at O'Kelly during his reconstruction phase at Newgrange was his use of white quartz on the front of the monument as opposed to the common belief that the cairn was originally covered with quartz in order to represent an egg.²⁸ It has been suggested that this brilliant white covering would have aided the "inter-site visibility" and facilitated celebrations along axial sightlines or corridors through the major cemeteries.²⁹ This supports the belief that these monuments served as outdoor ceremonial sights for the communities that built them.³⁰

_{Fig. 11}

These celebrations are unequivocally associated with, in the case of Newgrange, the Winter Solstice, and in the case of Knowth and at least Loughcrew cairn T, the Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes. Much has been made of the solar alignments of these monuments, with archaeomystical to archaeoastronomical interpretations for these events. The one question that seems to be paramount to the discussion is how can one go from a storehouse of the dead to a solar observatory? "There are so many variables that it is little more than vapid to remark that Newgrange, Stonehenge and Ballochroy contain solar alignments. A little more substance is added by the observation that all three sites were also associated with death. One supposition might be that in some way the sun or moon were believed to hold promise, after death, of an easier more comfortable life."³¹ It is not vapid to remark that the builders of Newgrange were at the least aware of the 'obliquity of the ecliptic' which is the tilt in the Earth's position in relation to the plane of its orbit around the sun.³² The construction of the lintel box at Newgrange as well as the use of similar light catching techniques at Loughcrew cairn T suggest that they were aware of this changing movement of the sun on the horizon and attempted to utilize this knowledge in their inscriptions within the megalithic sites.³³ It is indeed quite possible that these inscriptions could be described as a form of calendrical system based on observation of lunar and solar fluctuations as seen in this stone from Knowth (fig. 11).³⁴ This can also be seen in the image of an 'equinox symbol' at the rear of Loughcrew cairn T, which is highlighted when light strikes it on the Autumnal Equinox (fig. 12). The symbol clearly shows at the top the division of the solar year into four parts representing the Equinox and Solstices; a second four part division may represent the lunar fire festivals which are part of the ritual calendar of the pagan Irish. ³⁵

'Equinox Symbol' at Loughcrew on Autumnal Equinox

_{Fig. 12}

There is evidence to suggest that the purpose of the lintel box at Newgrange relates not only to this tracking of the solar movements at the Winter Solstice, but that this light in the darkness is an essential element of the spiritual or ceremonial purpose of the sight. One of the local names for Newgrange is Grian Uaigh, which in Irish means 'cave of the sun'; this is similar to the Indian term garbha-griha, which translates to 'womb-house'. This area, within the center of the Shiva caves, is where the lingam is placed, an upright stone meant to symbolize male creative energy. The placement of this within the womb of the cave is meant to symbolize the union of earth and sky. In the same way the light at the Winter Solstice pierceing into the chamber of Newgrange is meant to represent this union of light as masculine and earth as feminine.³⁶ "Given that sunrise at Winter Solstice marks the change from the earth dying to earth being reborn. I speculate that the rays of the Solstice sun must have been perceived as having inherent regenerative power, and that by having those rays fall on the cremated remains of the dead, as well as the earth, were aided in their rebirth." ³⁷ This connection between life, death, and regeneration is a probable origination for the triple spiral motif (fig. 13) which shows the reversal of the sun's movement in the opposite directions the two primary spirals turn.³⁸ This is also expressed in the phrase 'womb-tomb' which is frequently attached to these megalithic passage-graves and appears in Joyce's Ullyses in the line "Mouth to her Womb. Oomb, All wombing Tomb." ³⁹

The myths of the Cailleach

When searching for information about the builders of these monuments one name is consistently associated with them, the Cailleach Bheara. The word Cailleach means 'hooded or veiled woman' and is often translated as the 'veiled old woman'. She is a Gaelic diety whose stories are found throughout Ireland and Scotland, but do not appear in Wales or England.⁴⁰ Her great age and many lovers express an archaic and pagan worldview where the womb and the tomb are closely linked. Her association with mountain and cairn building as well as letting loose the river's flow show her to be a Creatrix associated with creation and formation of the world. This is expressed in the epitaph the "one-eyed hag of great age who reigned over the Four Red Divisions of the World"⁴¹

"I am poor old Cailleach Bheara,	"Mise Cailleach Bheara bhocht
Many wonders have I seen;	iomda ionagdh amharcas riamh,
I have seen White Carn a lake,	chonarcas Carn Bán 'na loch
Though now it is a mountain."	cidh go bfuil sé 'nois 'na shliabh."⁴²

The stories of her building cairns are ubiquitous throughout Scotland and Ireland. The most common motif is are that she either dropped out of her apron, or out of her creel (a fishing basket) the stones which make up the mounds. The site that is most often associated with this activity is Sliabh na Caillighe 'hill of the hag or witch' which is in the Loughcrew megalithic cemetery. The three tumuli are alternately called her footprints or associated with the stones that fell from apron in her attempt to achieve great power. ⁴³ In this way she is supposed to have let fall the megaliths for the building of the Boyne monuments as well. ⁴⁴

Another important aspect of the myths of the Cailleach relates to her role as a Goddess of Sovereignty. In one story she is shown offering kingship to the warrior whom would kiss her in the form of the hag. Much like the frog turned to a prince motif, she then becomes the 'most beautiful woman in the world' and offers the kingship of all Ireland.⁴⁵ She is also linked to the later Celtic Goddess Brighid, who with her symbolize the dark and light halves of the year. In some instances this power of transformation is housed in a rod or hammer that the two exchange, while in others they are one and the same and it is through a well or spring of Youth that the transformation takes place.⁴⁶

This association with Brighid and the Goddess of Sovreignty is tremendously important in relation to her being depicted as one-eyed, as this puts her squarely in the camp of the Fir Bolg, the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Ireland who are displaced by Brighid's tribe of Gaulish Celts the Tuatha de Dannan 'people of the Goddess Danu' who displaced them.⁴⁷ Although, it is important to recognize that both the Cailleach and Brighid in some stories are shown to be intermediaries between the pre-Celtic peoples and their Celtic invaders.⁴⁸ This role of intermediary between the chthonic as represented by the Fir Bolg and the light as seen in the Dannans is the same as the role between the dark and light halves of the year and consequently death and life or tomb and womb.

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till times and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.⁴⁹

_{Fig. 13}

Bridgit and the Irish Triple Goddess

Triplicity is a common theme in Irish mythology and this is best seen in the figure of the Celtic Goddess Brighid. She is seen as a triple goddess in form and function. Her person is in some stories split into three Brighids, each associated with one of her spheres of influence: healing especially midwifery, poetry, and fire or smithcraft. As Don�l �.Cathasaigh suggests, "the attributed functions of poet, physician, and artisan were critical to the cultural survival of a primitive society."⁵⁰ Likewise she is imaged as mother, mate, and daughter of the Irish Celtic father God the Dagda.⁵¹ She is also associated with fertility and the land, with the three river Goddesses which represent Ireland, and with sacred wells all of which mirror her connection with the Cailleach mentioned above as Creatrix and the Goddess of Sovreignty.⁵²

This image of mother, mate, and daughter represents the archetypal Triple Goddess as crone, mother, and maiden. In this context it is easy to place the Cailleach and Brighid within this framework in their respective positions of crone and maiden; it is the mother which is problematic. The Goddess whom the Dannans take their name from is Danu, she does not seem to appear in the mythology beyond that. Her counterpart in Welsh mythology is Don who is the wife of Bil�, the God of the Underworld.⁵³ The D in her name is reminiscent of Dia or De in the Greek De-Meter 'God Mother'. Her name is often listed as Anu and associated with the land and hills or Aine, one of the riverine tutelary Goddess representing Sovereignty, and as mentioned above associated with Brighid.⁵⁴ Her association with the Underworld is significant in that it suggests a similarity between the Demeter/Persephone myth.

Triplicity shows itself in the syncretism of myth in relation to the ownership of the Brugh na Bóinne. Originally the Goddess Boand, whose name means 'white cow', a common epitaph of archaic Godesses associated with fertility, owned the tumulus. She was the wife of Elcamar whom was tricked out of both her and the tumulus by the Dagda, and by whom she bore a son Aengus Og, who in turn tricked his father out of the 'mansion'.⁵⁵ He and his father's other two sons are said to be buried there. ⁵⁶ This overlay of male ownership as well asthe ascendance of the heroic culture of the Celts as seen in the actions of C�chulainn at the end of the Irish epic The Táin where he attacks "the three bald-topped hills of Meath" which undoubtedly are the three tumuli of the Boyne cemetary, suggest the male succession of an older feminine tradition .⁵⁷

Cross-cultural similarities

The similarity between the myths of Demeter/Persephone and Cailleach/Bridgit are striking. They both relate how the Earth moves from the dark half to the light half of the year, or from fallow of death to the fertility of life. Central to these is the idea of regeneration, both of the Earth and of the spirit. What is more telling though is the similarity in the imaging and preeminence of the one-eyed old woman who is associated with witchcraft, magic, and creation itself, the Cailleach and her counterpart in the Greek myths, Hekate.

Hekate is one of the titans who are of the same generation as Zeus' father Chronos, whom he deposes. They are imaged as having but one-eye which Mara Freeman suggests is "characteristic of those supernatural beings who see beyond the world of opposites." ⁵⁸ They are gigantic in size and are often described as manipulating stones and mountains in the same way that the Cailleach is said to have constructed the megalithic sites.

Hekate plays an enigmatic role in Hesiod'sTheogony which relates the lineage of the Greek pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. Of all the titans who Zeus and his cronies depose, it is Hekate who is given special treatment. Not only is she given a position of power in the three worlds that Zeus and his brothers divide up amongst themselves: earth, sea, and sky, she is given the position of intermediary between the propitiation of humanity and the Gods of Olympus. The closest the text comes to explicating this enigma is that she is an "only child", which perhaps should read "first-born" instead. This singling out of Hekate suggests that like the sycretism that is associated with religious overlay, she is being given these honors because she cannot be replaced, especially in relation to the worship the Gods require from humanity.⁵⁹

In Homer's Hymn to Demeter she plays a pivotal if enigmatic role as well. When Demeter is unable to find her daughter Persephone it is Hekate who hears her cries and comes to her succor. Hekate informs the mourning mother that she heard the lost lass cry out, she informs her that the child was indeed taken, and directs her to where she might go to find out who it was that did the dastardly deed, namely Helios, the sun.⁶⁰ So in this limited interaction we have the figures of Demeter/Persephone and Hekate/Helios playing their parts in a play that resembles the movement of the sun through the seasons of dark and light.

Panaromic Shot of Winter Solstice at Newgrange

_{Fig. 14}

Conclusion

The figures of the Cailleach and Hekate suggest an archaic tradition that represents the veneration of a Triple Earth Goddess associated with the three worlds of land, water, and sky. This tradition includes an understanding of astronomy and consequently calendrical measurement based on lunar and solar observation relative to the Equinoxes and Solstices. Their association with megalithic structures and religio-spiritual transformation of oppositional energies speaks of awareness far beyond what we commonly accept as plausible of their archaic nature. This enigma is due to their places and powers being coopted by masculine oriented cultures and the priestly redactors who sought to obliterate or obfuscate our picture of them. This can be seen in the stories of male ownership of the Brugh na Bóinne and the disavowal of the Triple Goddess' place in the history of religious expression.⁶¹

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1 : entrance stone of Newgrange (O'Brien, 1992: 25).

Fig. 2 : plan of Newgrange and sectional elevation of East side of passage (O'Kelly, 1982: 22).

Fig. 3 : map of the Boyne passage-grave cemetery (O'Kelly, 1989: 51).

Fig. 4 : map of megalithic sites in Ireland (Brennan, 1980: 111).

Fig. 5 : pins and needles of bone and antler found in Irish passage-graves (Piggot, 1954: 205).

Fig. 6 : East recess stone basin from Newgrange (O'Kelly, 1982: 135).

Fig. 7 : right recess stone basin from Knowth, East (Gimbutas, 1991: 215).

Fig. 8 : art motifs of Irish passage-graves (Ibid: 211).

Fig. 9 : flint macehead with anthropomorphic carving from Knowth (Gimbutas, 1991: 214).

Fig. 10 : detail from Kerbstone 67 (Brennan, 1980: 31).

Fig. 11 : the 'Calendar Stone' from Knowth (Brennan, 1980: 98).

Fig. 12 : illumination of 'equinox symbol' on rear of cairn T at Loughcrew on Autumnal Equinox (O'Brien, 1992: 48).

Fig. 13 : triple spiral in rear recess at Newgrange (Ibid: 25).

Fig 14 : view of the Newgrange tomb taken with a fish-eye lens showing the rear, East and West recesses and the corbelled roof illuminated from the lintel box (O'Kelly, 1982: 32).

Definitions

Brugh na B�inne : from the Irish meaning mansion or house of the Boyne (O'Kelly, 1982: 43).

Menhir : a single tall upright megalith from Breton meaning long stone (AmHer, 1996: 1127).

Dolmen : two or more megaliths with a capstone from Breton meaning key stone (Ibid, 549).

Cairn : a mound of stone erected as a marker from Irish meaning pile (Ibid, 269 & Focl�ir, 294).

Orthostat : an upright megalith associated with passage-graves from Greek meaning standing (AmHer, 1279).

Ogham : an alphabetic system of inscribed notches for vowels and lines for consonants used to write Old Irish, from the fifth to seventh century; from Irish after the name of the god Ogma (Ibid, 1257).

Notes

1. William Butler Yeats, "The Song of Wandering Aengus" The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats (New York: Macmillan, 1933): 57-58.

2. William Irwin Thompson, Coming Into Being (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998): 246.

3. Ronald Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles (Cambridge MA: Basil Blackwell, 1991): 19.

4. Michael J. O'Kelly, Early Ireland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989): 110.

5. Hutton, 20.

6. O'Kelly (1989) 85-124, cited in Liam B. Kilmurray, "A Social Archaeological Examination of Power as Reflected in the Boyne Valley Megalithic Passage-graves in the Irish Neolithic 4000-2000 BCE." (Carleton University, 1997): 28. O'Kelly's terms are portal, wedge, court, and passage.

7. Hutton, 21.

8. O'Kelly, 1989: 36 & 123.

9. Garfitt, J.E. "Moving the Stones of Stonehenge" Antiquity 53 (1979): 190-95. Cited in Kilmurray, 43.

10. Kilmurray, 108-10.

11. Ibid, 105. Piggot identifies it as Loughcrew ware adding that "it is fairly hard, but flakey, with large grit, and ranges from light reddish to ashy grey and a cindery white�manufacture was by lapped rings or coils of clay" Stuart Piggot, The Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954): 202.

12. Ibid. Piggot, 205-06.

13. Juzeler, Rebecca, personal interview conducted by author Olympia, WA, 25FEB999. Rebecca was a member of the Perspectives on Ireland program who traveled to Ireland for Spring, and was able to inspect the basins due to the request of a sight-impaired member of the group, Korin Trytko.

14. Martin Brennan, The Boyne Valley Vision (Portaloise: Dolmen Press): 41. Hutton, 54. Piggot, 200. Another controversial explanation revolves around their use as 'birthing chairs' to delay birth. See Condren, 82.

15. George Eogan, "Knowth Before Knowth" Antiquity 72 (1998): 163.

16. Ibid, 166.

17. Ibid, 168.

18. Ibid, 170.

19. Ibid, 171-72.

20. Yeats, 57-58.

21. Juzeler, personal interview (see note 13). Rebecca had the opportunity to take a module while in Ireland from an archaeologist who was participating on a current dig of Dowth and according to her source there is more art at that site than either Newgrange or Knowth.

22. Piggot, 217.

23. Brennan, 7-9.

24. O'Kelly, 1989: 111.

25. Jean McMann, "Forms of Power: Dimensions of an Irish Megalithic Landscape" Antiquity 68 (1994): 533

26. Michael Herrity, Irish Passage Graves (Dublin: University Press, 1974): 94: 107. Cited in Kilmurray, 39.

27. McMann, 541 & 540.

28. Brennan, 18.

29. McMann, 537.

30. Eogan, 170.

31. H.A.W. Burl, "Pi in the Sky" Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, Ed. D.C. Heggie (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982): 164-65.

32. Tim O'Brien, Light Years Ago (Dublin: Black Cat Press, 1992): 15-17

33. Ibid, 22-24.

34. Brennan, 97-100.

35. O'Brien, 42.

36. Brennan, 15-20.

37. Leonard Cuff, response to L.N. Franco, Parabola 21 (Winter 1996): 122-24.

38. O'Brien, 16-17.

39. James Joyce, Ulysses (New York: Random House, 1961): 48.7. Also see Weldon Thorton Allusions in Ulysses (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1961): 62 where he shows this idea can be found in Shakespeare and Blake. Also Marija Gimbutas Language of the Goddess (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989): 219.

40. Eleanor Hull, "Legends and Traditions of the Cailleach Bheara or Old Woman (Hag) of Beare." Folklore 38 (1927): 226

41. Ibid, 249.

42. Ibid, 230-31. She gives no citation source for this, simply stating it is common to the west of Ireland. I include the Gaelic out of sheer joy to see it in print.

43. Ibid, 244-47. Also McMann, 26. Daragh Smyth, A Guide to Irish Mythology (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1996): 31.

44. Mary Condren, The Serpent and The Goddess (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989): 82: 237.

45. Mara Freeman, "Queen of Air and Darkness" Parabola 21 (Summer 1997): 72. Also Smyth 31.

46. Ibid

47. Ibid, 71. Also Hull, 249.

48. Smyth, 29.

49. Yeats, 57-58.

50. Donál Ó. Cathasaigh, "The Cult of Brighid: A Study of Pagan-Christian Syncretism in Ireland." Mother Worship. Ed. James J. Preston (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982): 78-79.

51. Robert Graves, The White Goddess (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1970): 101-02. Cited in Cathasaigh, 79-81.

52. Smyth, 49

53. Peter Berresford Ellis, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992): 78

54. Adam McLean, The Triple Goddess (Grand Rapids MN: Phanes Press, 1989): 88: 91-92.

55. L.N. Franco, "Newgrange and the Winter Solstice" Parabola 21 (Summer 1996): 85-87.

56. Smyth, 49.

57. Thomas Kinsella(Tr.), The Táin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969): 248.

58. Freeman, 71.

59. Hesiod, Theogony (Tr.) Richard Lattimore (Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Press, 1959): 147-49.

60. Homer, The Homeric Hymns (Tr.) Charles Boer (Dallas TX: Spring Publications, 1970): 91: 94.

61. When I took Kirk Thompson's program Interpretation: Comparative Religion as a freshman I posited that Hekate represented the crone aspect of the Triple Goddess in relation to the two texts we read. He flatly stated that the Greeks had no Triple Goddess, which still to this day I wonder about his adamant stance on the subject, when the material certainly suggested a further look, or at least an open attempt at an original look.

Sources Cited and Consulted

Brennan, Martin. The Boyne Valley Vision. Portaloise IR: Dolmen Press, 1980.

Burl, H.A.S. "Pi in the Sky." Archaeoastronomy in the Old World. Ed. D.C. Heggie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 141-69.

Cathasaigh, Donál Ó. "The Cult of Brighid: A Study of Pagan-Christian Syncretism in Ireland."Mother Worship. Ed. James J. Preston. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.

Condren, Mary. The Serpent and The Goddess. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.

Cuff, Leonard. Response to L.N. Franco. Parabola 21 Winter (1996): 122-24.

Deren, Maya. The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. New York: Documentex, 1953.

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